P2P Whipping Boy: Know the Risks

In April, Michigan Technological University junior Joseph Nievelt was sued by the RIAA for running a so-called "Napster-like" network on campus that enabled his fellow students to share music files.

The RIAA sought to recover $150,000 for each file that was downloaded, but settled with Nievelt earlier this month for a total of $15,000.

While his buddies celebrate the end of final exams this weekend, Joseph Nievelt has one more deadline to meet: He's got to pony up $5,000 to the Recording Industry Association of America by June 1.

In April, the Michigan Technological University junior was sued by the RIAA for running a so-called "Napster-like" network on campus that enabled his fellow students to share music files.

The RIAA sought to recover $150,000 for each file that was downloaded, but settled with Nievelt earlier this month for a total of $15,000. After the initial payment in June, Nievelt will pay an additional $3,333 each year for the next three years to pay off the settlement.

Aaron Sherman and Jesse Jordan of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Daniel Peng of Princeton University also were sued, and have since settled with the RIAA for similar amounts.

Nievelt wouldn't say why he set up the site in the first place and admitted no wrongdoing for his actions. In fact, deciding to settle was not an easy choice, according to his lawyer.

"Joe's a student and these kinds of cases drag on for years. It would have been a major distraction for him," said his lawyer, Tom Lewry of Brooks & Kushman. Plus, the terms of the settlement "are pretty easy compared to what the RIAA wanted in the lawsuit."

"He went back and forth for a couple of weeks before he decided to settle," Lewry said.

The computer science and math double major seems to have a bright future and said he wanted to put the case behind him.

"It's nice having it done with," Nievelt said.

"I can understand that they hold the copyrights to a lot of materials that people are sharing freely, and they have a right to be upset about that," he said of the RIAA. "But I think the way they are trying to solve the problem is not good at all."

"I don't imagine people holding a higher opinion of the RIAA," he added.

Before the lawsuit, Nievelt was better-known for his sensational coding abilities. He placed fourth last year in the TopCoder Collegiate Challenge, and was the first Michigan Tech student to advance to the finals in the competition. He won $5,000 in that particular contest and ranked 13th among 11,000 TopCoders in the nation at the time. He also has competed in programming competitions sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery.

Nievelt -- as DJ QuackQuack -- also co-hosted a morning show this year, called Holla if you love tofu, on the school's radio station, WMTU. He serenaded his classmates with bands like Saves the Day and New Found Glory.

As for his future plans, Nievelt said he would like to go to graduate school and is considering a career in software development or mathematics. This summer he hopes to work on an adaptive optics project on campus. The money he makes would be put toward paying off his debt to the RIAA.

But first, Michigan Tech is disciplining Nievelt for violations of the student code of conduct and the school's computer-use policy. He declined to give specific details on the punishment.

"He did have a hearing with the dean of students, but the results of that are confidential," said Dean Woodbeck, director of news and information for Michigan Tech. "He also has the option of taking his case to the provost, who is chief academic officer and is the final authority on whatever punishment that is handed down."

Fellow students sympathetic to Nievelt's situation staged a rally on campus -- complete with bands -- to show their support. Some Michigan Tech students also set up a "Free Joe" website that until Thursday sold hats, mugs and shirts with the slogan.